Echoes of the "Galileo incident" resurface from time to time. This debate between the scientist, Galileo, and the theologian, Cardinal Bellarmine, is often poorly framed as an example of what happens when religious faith is blind to scientific truth.

Time and again the incident is used in attempts to demonize some Catholic moral teachings and depict them as particular obstacles to scientific progress and social advancement. As a result the Catholic Church has found itself at times the target of unwarranted criticism because of its unwavering pro-life stance and its clear commitment to protecting the dignity of human life from conception to natural death.

Some have blamed the Catholic Church and its pro-life commitment for over-population, collusion in the AIDS epidemic, and the cause of needless suffering in dying patients. Another example of this is the assertion that the Church is an obstacle to the development of cures for a variety of illnesses because of its refusal to endorse embryonic stem cell research. They suggest that any Christian who truly loved their suffering sisters and brothers would want to do everything possible to ameliorate their conditions. They suggest that the Catholic position that forbids embryonic stem cell research is somehow inconsistent with Gospel values.

However, a review of our Catholic position will reveal the fallacy of this assertion.

What are stem cells? They are cells that apparently have the ability to be coaxed into becoming almost any kind of human cell. This property makes them extremely valuable in searching for cures to a variety of diseases where they might be useful in replacing diseased or defective cells, maybe even repairing nerve injuries that have resulted in paralysis.

Points to remember
1. The Church does not condemn stem cell research. The Church condemns embryonic stem cell research. This is a very important distinction. Why? Because in fact, there are multiple sources of human stem cells, the vast majority of these are found in those of us who have already been born. The Church forbids the use of embryonic stem cells for research because the embryos are killed in the process and human embryos are human beings.

In his groundbreaking encyclical, Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life), Pope John Paul II reminded us of God's biblical message: "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you (Jer 1:5): the life of every individual, from its very beginning, is part of God's plan" (n. 44). No human being can be used as a means to an end. Every human embryo has begun their human life and it would be wrong to sacrifice a human for research purposes.

Again, Pope John Paul II makes it clear: "…the use of human embryos or fetuses as an object of experimentation constitutes a crime against their dignity as human beings who have a right to the same respect owed to a child once born…" (EV, 62)

2. Embryos are not essential to stem cell research. Research continues to uncover more and more useful sources of human stem cells. In fact, all stem cells currently used in health care come from adult sources, primarily our bone marrow cells. Every one of us has stem cells that are potentially useful in health care; in our bones, in umbilical cords, even our fat cells can yield useful stem cells. The Church would encourage any research involving adult stem cells as morally responsible research.

3. "Abandoned" embryos are not available, morally or realistically. It has been argued that "since there are thousands of embryos left over from couples who have undergone in vitro fertilization procedure, it would be better to use those embryos for research than simply to let them perish."

First, surveys have shown that the vast majority of these unused embryos are not "abandoned," and in fact only a very small proportion of couples would want their unused embryos to be sacrificed for research purposes. Secondly, these embryos are an unlikely source of health care since any implantation in patients of tissue that resulted from their harvested stem cells would involve concerns about rejection.

4. Embryonic stem cell research includes human cloning. Proponents of embryonic stem cell research have attempted to substitute "somatic cell nuclear transfer" for the term cloning. But cloning and "SMNT" are synonymous. Embryonic stem cell research will use donated eggs and the nuclei taken from the body cells of potential patients to clone embryos. These clones, if they can be created, would be the source of the stem cells that could be implanted in the patients. However, every embryo, whether it is a cloned embryo or not, remains a human being.

Potentially, hundreds of embryos would be sacrificed in each process, if indeed human cloning ever becomes feasible. Here we recognize a double tragedy, the creation of human beings through cloning with the intention of killing them. This is not any kind of research that can be morally defended, no matter what the ultimate goal of the researcher. Here we should remember that to this point science has been unable to produce a verifiable human clone. We are all more than aware of the debacle that took place in South Korea last year when it was falsely claimed that human clones had in fact been produced.

In conclusion
The Church is passionate in its support of moral medical research. The Church clearly believes that there is no dichotomy between good science and good theology. If stem cells can be used for medical purposes, the Church would be wholeheartedly enthusiastic. However, good science always recognizes that there are moral limits to what it should do. The end does not justify the means. Just because something "can" be done, does not imply automatically that it "should be done. In the case of embryonic stem cell research, human beings cannot be sacrificed in pursuit of research goals.

Ten years ago, Richard Doerflinger, deputy director of the U.S. Bishops' Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities, spoke on behalf of the national conference of Catholic bishops before the President's National Bio-ethics Advisory Committee. He said:

"From the time of the Nuremberg Code, ethical norms on human experimentation have demanded that we never inflict death or disabling injury on any un-consenting individual of the human species simply for the benefit of others. Stem cell research requiring the destructive harvesting of cells from living embryos fails this test and should not be supported…."

That statement was true ten years ago and it remains true today. If we are truly "pro-life," we must be much more than "anti-abortion." We must stand beside every human life from his or her moment of conception until the last breath of their natural existence.

Vincentian Father Richard Benson is academic dean and professor of moral theology at St. John's Seminary, Camarillo.